The Tennis Thread

[constanceMafioso]

The Australian Open draw for the girls is out, some really interesting match ups to come but in the top 4 the most unlucky I guess is Maria who draws Serena in her Quarters otherwise all the 3 other girls have it pretty much easy. Another thing too is the blockbuster Li Na versus Kim Clijsters in the 4th. round -- that's pretty early for them to meet considering that they were both F last year... I'm really happy Victoria didn't draw Serena yet again in the AO (it was three consecutive years 2008, 2009, 2010 -- in 2011 Serena didn't take part).

A notable thing in the ATP draw is that probably for the first time since I can't even remember, Federer/Novak and Nadal/Murray will not be in the same part of the draw for the SF... it'll be Federer/Nadal and Novak/Murray. I wonder if Roger will have a better chance facing Rafa in a SF than in F, should be really interesting to watch.

My picks goes for Victoria and Nole as the final winners. B)

 

[Scott]

kvitova doesn't really have it easy either.....she has serena,sharapova and stosur all in her section. she certainly might have to battle unless something miraculous occurs and she's totally in the zone or none of this players don't even get in her way ultimately. personally,i would love to see a petra vs. serena meeting. she's the only one in the field kvitova doesn't have a victory against and petra has talked about her eagerness to play her again after that wimby semifinal in 2010. could be a good one.

but wozniacki has the toughest road it appears. she has clijsters,azarenka,li na and radwanska who just beat her in sydney.....

 

[Chaky]

A notable thing in the ATP draw is that probably for the first time since I can't even remember, Federer/Novak and Nadal/Murray will not be in the same part of the draw for the SF... it'll be Federer/Nadal and Novak/Murray.

French Open 2005 was the last time Federer and Nadal were in the same half of the draw. Can't believe it's been that long but this does make it interesting, assuming they can get there. Of course I hope Roger can get another slam. I'd like to see a good showing from Juan Martin del Potro also.

Anna C has drawn Jelena Dokic in the first round, so I'm assuming it will be on a showcourt. Anna's got a good chance unless Jelena can somehow feed off the crowd support.

 

[Chaky]

Only a couple of hours to go. I'm excited for this (but the start does clash with the Golden Globes). Got to balance my desire to stay up all night watching with the requirement to go to work tomorrow morning.

There's five Brits playing today so British Eurosport will be busy. This is our best representation at a slam outside of Wimbledon for many years thanks to Robson and Ward qualifying.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Especially interesting regarding Nadal and Federer being in the same half now that Nadal has criticized Federer openly for not being more involved in calendar disputes.

Let the games begin!!

 

[Scott]

and that they did.....my....aga radwanska had quite the nightmare against mattek-sands. although bethanie played well enough,didn't see that much-improved radwanska today and she kind of let bethanie into it. she played like her old self and really wasn't as aggressive as she's been of late. maybe first round nerves? i hope.

 

[MyNameIs]

What a comeback by Tomic.

Dolgopolov is on the brink of an awful upset. He's playing some of the worst tennis I've ever seen him play.

 

[MyNameIs]

Whew. Well I guess that's why I'm not a professional tennis player. Glad Alex was able to come back. It was a strange, strange match. Alex was all kinds of out of sync in the first two sets, but able to get it together and win the last three sets quite easily.

 

[purplethistle]

^ I was also a bit concerned with how Dolgopolov was playing in the first two sets and must admit I knew that when I came here I'd expect the same kind of concern from you MNI.

I'm thoroughly impressed with how Tomic handled himself today. After he lost the tie breaker in the second set I actually written him off for the rest of the match thinking that the heat had already gotten to him of that his good form form Kooyong had come to an end. I hope he can recover well for his second round match.

Bit disappointed that L. Robson lost today. I was kind of hoping to see her play a bit more this year

 

[Scott]

oh sam that's a really terrible first round encounter for sam. one of the most unpredictable players with huge shots,who's got a bit confidence right now too. i was really hoping sam could play her way into the tournament get that form up but alas.....

too bad about anna chakvatadze. i didn't think that would go down so easily for jelena. it was really a conflicting match-up for me because i've been rooting both to get their form back.

 

[Chaky]

So disappointed with Anna. Dokic was playing pretty well compared some recent performances I've seen from her - certainly handling the conditions better. But Anna seemed to lose interest in the match after a while and was being very careless. I don't know what was up with her. At least she bagged a few points in Hobart that will cushion this loss (she was defending R2).

Didn't see any of Sam's match but that was so unexpected. I can't think of Cirstea really doing anything recently. Massive win for her.

 

[purplethistle]

Seems like the latest trend in women's tennis is to have a woman win a grand slam for the first time and then lose first round at the following slam.

Happy that Dolgopolov got out of a tight match today. To bad he'll now be facing Tomic in the next round. I really like both players so it'll be hard to say goodbye to either one of them.

 

[MyNameIs]

Is there anyone who's both more fun and more frustrating to watch than Dolgopolov? At times, just painful. I get stressed out just watching him play, what kind of roller coaster must it be for him? There really was no reason for that match to go to five sets against Kamke. Especially considering how easily Dolgopolov won the second and third sets. I guess it really is his 'style' of play, and he's been pretty successful up to this point, but boy oh boy is it ever easy.

Also caught that second set of Woz's game. The other girl gave her a good fight, but Carol was able to pull out a victory. I honestly wasn't all that impressed with her game.

Fish is out. Wonder if this is a beginning of the end for him or just a bad day?

 

[Scott]

mardy is starting to show a negative side to his personality that i don't like at all. from that tsonga incident to the way he acted at hopman cup against dimitrov.....and today he acted quite bratty too.

to be honest,i'm with you mynameis....i watched that second set and i just feel so indifferent toward caro. if she had a bit more dimension i would probably be interested. definitely a bit of inexperience from tatishvili not being able to close that set out when she had so many opportunities.

chaky,i think she just let the pressure get to her too much,sam stosur. cirstea did have a QF run in hobart last week but nothing spectacular. also,i was really hoping sam would elevate her game enough to weather the storm. cirstea,for as dangerous as she can be and hit her shots,she is prone to crumbling. just disappointing from stosur.

 

[MyNameIs]

Ferrer/Sweeting match is quite entertaining. I'm rooting for Sweeting, if only because I usually enjoy a good upset. Plus he's been playing some good tennis tonight. He's leading 2 sets to 1 at the moment, but Ferrer is about to even it up at 2 a piece.

 

[purplethistle]

Dolgopolov and Tomic match is the most exciting one so far, all the different types of shots that you don't normally see in mens tennis from both players. So far one set each. If things keep continuing the way they are I might end up with a cardiac arrest.

 

[MyNameIs]

^I woke up at 3 am to watch this match. lol

 

[MyNameIs]

Well Dolgopolov is now down 1 set to 2. I'm surprised it even went to tiebreak in the third set. After Alex blew that lead, he played terrible the rest of the set. And even some of the points in the tie-break, completely careless and unfocused. Even though you can never predict what you'll see from him, from what I saw so far in this match, I don't think Dolgopolov has the focus to take this match. I hope to be proven wrong.

Speaking of Tomic though. I know he's the flavor of the day in tennis and especially this being in Australia, the hype is insane (not all unwarranted tbh), but his demeaner is one of those that I can't stand. It's Djok in that sense. So arrogant and obnoxious.

 

[purplethistle]

Fortunate that the medical break for Dolgopolov is nothing major.

I wouldn't say that Tomic is arrogant and obnoxious in a Djokovic kind of way. But I would admit that is walking the find line between confident and arrogant. I think you're just a bit biased right now

 

[constanceMafioso]

I have to admit unless to watch the big 4 I don't really watch the other guys, the Tomic/Dolgopo match was pretty good with some drama...

I'm really interested now to see now how Bernard Tomic performs against Rodger, I kind of appreciate his game a lot --

Speaking of Tomic though. I know he's the flavor of the day in tennis and especially this being in Australia, the hype is insane (not all unwarranted tbh), but his demeaner is one of those that I can't stand. It's Djok in that sense. So arrogant and obnoxious.

Well actually Tomic is doing something for it unlike a player like Dimitrov for example who is a very good copycat of Federer but certainly and probably only just that.

Seems like the latest trend in women's tennis is to have a woman win a grand slam for the first time and then lose first round at the following slam.

It's not really Sammy's fault but it's evidence that her game has a lot of technical issues which makes her very prone to losing to players who have the ability to expose her game especially on hard courts, for example her backhand or serve which is pretty much turns out to be the same monotonous "kick". I think she'll do better in RG, paradoxically her first major was on fast hard courts but her surface is clay so I can definitively see her rebound somewhere around that period.

Furthermore it can be also true that playing on home soil is not easy --